20 FEBRUARY 2016 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
Emissions requirements and
changes in energy markets affect
the wood pellets industry
A
couple of years back, some consumers regarded wood
pellets as an attractive and affordable alternative, or
supplement, to heating oil. Since then, the prices of oil
and natural gas have dropped.
Also, the EPA on Feb. 3, 2015, updated its clean air
standards for residential wood heaters, including pellet stoves. The
agency said the updated standards make new heaters significantly
cleaner and improve air quality in communities where people
burn wood for heat. The updates, which are based on improved
wood heater technology, strengthen the emissions standards
for new woodstoves, while establishing the first-ever federal air
standards for previously unregulated new wood heaters. The final
rule, known as New Source Performance Standards, phases in
emission limits over a five-year period. The standards apply only
to new wood heaters and will not affect wood heaters already in
use in homes.
For an update on the general state of the pellet industry, Fuel
Oil News interviewed John Crouch, director of public affairs for
the Pellet Fuels Institute in Arlington, Va.
FON: Manufacturers now must specify the grade of wood
pellets to be used in new equipment, and so the pellet industry is
implementing a system for grading the quality of wood pellets.
How far along is the industry with implementing that grading
system?
Crouch: Yes, any new pellet-fired appliance now
needs to specify the grade of fuel [to be burned in it]. In the
long term, grading is a useful thing for it gives consumers
confidence in the quality of the commodity. A number of
companies have signed up and are part of the Pellet Fuels
Institute's quality assurance system—they're authorized by
the laboratories that audit them to use a two-part mark. The
mark has a line through the center. Above the line are the
minimum PFI requirements, and those are audited. Below the
line, if the manufacturer wants to make any other claims—
and they are audited claims—then they can make their claims
below the line.
FON: Who oversees this quality control effort?
Crouch: This whole program is run by the American
Lumber Standards Committee. They're the same people who
authorize the grading of lumber. They in turn audit the indepen-
dent laboratories which audit the pellet producers. PFI organized
the system, but we don't have any day-to-day involvement audit-
ing people's production.
By Stephen Bennett
The
Prospects
for
Pellets
COURTESY
OF
AMERICAN
WOOD
FIBERS
A bulk container is filled with pellets at a manufacturing facility in Ohio
operated by American Wood Fibers, headquartered in Columbia, Md.
